Quds-1, designated '351' by the US Government, is a land-attack
cruise missile
A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhe ...
used by
Houthi movement
The Houthi movement (; ar, ٱلْحُوثِيُّون ''al-Ḥūthīyūn'' ), officially called Ansar Allah (' ''Partisans of God'' or ''Supporters of God'') and colloquially simply Houthis, is an Islamist, Islamist political and armed move ...
in Yemen.
[ The Houthis claim that they have developed it themselves, but some sources disagree.
]
Design
According to missile expert Fabian Hinz it could be a copy of the Iranian Soumar missile or the Russian Kh-55. However, the size of the missile is smaller than the Iranian one, and its range is much shorter due to having less room aboard for fuel, and due to being a ground-launched rather than an air-launched cruise missile. He added that there are differences between the Soumar missile and the Quds-1 missile like "the entire booster design, the wing position, the Quds 1's fixed wings, the shape of the nose cone, the shape of the aft fuselage, the position of the stabilizers and the shape of the engine cover and exhaust". According to Fabian Hinz the range of Quds-1 is "significantly" smaller than the Iranian Soumar.
The primary engine is an unlicensed copy of the TJ-100 turbojet produced by PBS Velká Bíteš in Czechia
The UN Final report of the Panel of Experts on Yemen was released on 27th January 2020:
It uses the TERCOM
Terrain contour matching, or TERCOM, is a navigation system used primarily by cruise missiles. It uses a pre-recorded contour map of the terrain that is compared with measurements made during flight by an on-board radar altimeter. A TERCOM system ...
navigation system.
A "Quds cruise missile" was amongst the long-range unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...
s (UAV) the Houthis displayed to the media in July 2019. Jane's Defence Weekly
''Jane's Defence Weekly'' (abbreviated as ''JDW'') is a weekly magazine reporting on military and corporate affairs, edited by Peter Felstead. It is one of a number of military-related publications named after John F. T. Jane, an Englishman who ...
described it as shorter with differently shaped wings and fins, engine mounted on top rather than inside, and a smaller rocket launch booster compared to the Iranian Ya Ali. The fins looked similar to the missile used in the Abha International Airport attack the previous month.
Quds-2
The Quds-2 cruise missile is also used by Yemen, and is supposed to be a more advanced version of the Quds-1, with higher speed, and range.
Quds-3
See also
*Houthi insurgency in Yemen
The Houthi insurgency in Yemen, also known as the Houthi rebellion, the Sa'dah War, or the Sa'dah conflict, was a rebellion, military rebellion pitting Zaidiyyah, Zaidi Shia Islam, Shia Houthis (though the movement also includes Sunni Islam, Sun ...
*Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen Saudi may refer to:
* Saudi Arabia
* Saudis, people from Saudi Arabia
* Saudi culture, the culture of Saudi Arabia
* House of Saud
The House of Saud ( ar, آل سُعُود, ʾĀl Suʿūd ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is c ...
References
{{reflist
Surface-to-surface missiles of Yemen
Cruise missiles